Pendulum
by Silver Curiosity
Summary: Rukia and Toshirou get a mission to destroy a girl that has an immense amount of power, and end uptrapped in the real world. But what does it mean when she just disappears without a trace, and it seems that she never existed in the first place? R&R!


Pendulum

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**Disclaimer: I DONT own Bleach or any of its characters.**

**a/n:** Hi guys! This is my first Bleach fanfic, so don't be too mean! As for my other fanfics, I'll try to update as soon as possible! So here you go. Enjoy!

**Chapter One**

"Taichou!" Matsumoto called as she opened the door to the 10th Division's office. A pile of paper toppled over onto her, burying her. She groaned, shoving the papers off of her head, and trudged into the room.

She scanned the room for her short, spiky-haired captain, but he was nowhere in sight. But there were stacks and stacks of papers piled up to the ceiling scattered all around the room. 'Taichou?!" she called.

"Over here!" Toshirou replied. Matsumoto turned toward the voice and saw her captain crawling out from under his desk. He cursed under his breath as he hit his head against the side of the desk. Matsumoto giggled and walked over to him to help him up. A stack of paper fell on him in the process.

Matsumoto laughed, taking a piece of paper off of Toshirou's face. He glared at her, then sat down at his desk and grabbed the nearest stack of papers. "Taichou, what were you doing fooling around under the desk?" Matsumoto scolded. "You have so much paperwork!" She gestured to all the stacks of paper around the room.

"I was getting my pen!" Toshirou muttered angrily. "And all this paperwork I have is _yours_."

Matsumoto glanced around the room warily, then gave Toshirou a nervous smile. "Hey, you know what? I just remembered that Ikkaku wanted me to meet him at the…uh…place, to help him with the…thing, so I'll just get going—"

Toshirou grabbed her collar and pulled her back just as she was about to walk out the door. "No, you're gonna stay right here and help me finish," he said sternly.

"Aw, Taichou, you're no fun." Matsumoto said with a pout. "Oh yeah, there's a meeting for a bunch of the captains. They wanted you to go too."

"Alright. When is it?"

"It started an hour ago. I think."

"What?!" Toshirou exclaimed. "Matsumoto, you idiot, why'd you wait 'till now to tell me that?!"

Matsumoto shrugged. "Ugh, never mind," Toshirou mumbled as he jumped over the desk and ran for the door.

Matsumoto followed Toshirou out of the room. "And where the hell do you think you're going?" Hitsugaya asked, irritated.

Matsumoto thought for a minute. "To see Ikkaku," she replied, rolling her eyes as if it was obvious.

"No you're not. You're gonna finish _your_ paperwork." Toshirou pointed to the door. Matsumoto hesitated, then turned around and walked into their office.

"You're no fun, Taichou,' she said, as she closed the door. Toshirou let out a frustrated sigh. He started mumbling to himself as he walked and didn't notice the figure approaching him. He bumped into her and they both fell on the ground.

"Watch where you're goin—Oh! Hitsugaya-Taichou, forgive me," the girl apologized. Toshirou looked up to see Rukia, who had already gotten up, holding out her hand. He ignored it and stood up, brushing himself off. Rukia gave him an annoyed look and he gave her a glare in return.

_Damn, why the hell wasn't Kuchiki watching where she was going?_ he thought angrily. He was already mad enough as it is. _I wonder…would she have apologized if I wasn't a captain?_

Rukia turned away from the glare, thinking, _Ugh, he doesn't know how lucky he is that he's a captain. I swear, if he wasn't, this wouldn't have had such a pretty ending…_

Then she remembered why she was there in the first place.

"Hitsugaya Taichou, I—" Rukia started, but Toshirou interrupted her.

"Sorry, can't talk now. I've got a meeting to go to," Toshirou said, walking past her.

"But it just ended…"

Toshirou stopped. This was the fifth meeting he'd missed this week because Matsumoto "forgot" to tell him until it ended. He started imagining all the ways he could punish her: make her do both of their paperwork, not let her shop for more clothes, take away her sake…

His thoughts were interrupted by Rukia. "We're being sent to the real world for a mission," she explained.

"'We'? You're going too?" Toshirou asked.

"Yes…"

Toshirou paused. "But I thought the meeting was only for some of the captains."

"No, it was for you, me, Uohana Taichou, Matsumoto Fukutaichou and Yachiru Fukutaichou."

"That idiot told me it was only for captains…" Toshirou closed his eyes out of frustration. Rukia figured that by "idiot" he meant Matsumoto. "So where's Yachiru?"

Rukia didn't answer. Toshirou opened his eyes and twitched. Rukia was gone. Well, he thought so for a while until he saw her in the distance. "Kuchiki, wait!" he shouted as he ran after her. She turned around and stuck her tongue out, then started running too. Toshirou stood there, shocked, wondering why Rukia just did that. It was completely unlike her.

"You've gotta be kidding me…" Toshirou said to himself as he chased after her. Rukia giggled and turned around a corner. A very scared Toshirou followed, but Rukia was nowhere in sight.

He slowly walked down the path, wondering if Rukia was hiding. "Up here, Taichou!" He looked up just to have barrel fall on his face.

"Ow!" he cried as he was partly flattened.

He threw the barrel off himself and looked up again to see a horrified Rukia looking down at him from a rooftop. She jumped down and bowed her head in apology. "Hitsugaya-Taichou, please forgive me! I don't know what came over me!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Toshirou replied, acting as if it didn't matter. _She's back to normal now…_he thought.

"Honestly, I didn't mean for that barrel to fall on you! It was an accident—"

"It's ok."

"I was gonna jump onto the other roof, but I accidentally kicked it and it fell—"

"I said its ok! Really."

"And you're so puny! I was scared that you might've gotten smooshed—"

"Alright! Shut up already!" yelled Toshirou. He turned around and started walking towards the gates of Seireitei, mumbling something about "not puny" and "stupid barrel".

_Hmm, I guess that "puny" part really pissed him off,_ Rukia thought, amused. She followed behind him for a while, then started getting irritated. It was too quiet. She opened her mouth to say something when Toshirou spoke.

"When are we leaving for this mission?"

Rukia replied, "You and I are supposed to leave tonight."

"What about the others?"

"Others?" Rukia asked, confused.

"Yeah, like Yachiru and Matsumoto," Toshirou responded.

"Oh. They're not coming with us on the mission."

Toshirou stopped walking for the second time that day from something Rukia said. "Then why were they called to the meeting?"

Rukia shrugged. "I think Yachiru Fukutaichou was supposed to help Uohana Taichou with something, and Matsumoto Fukutaichou was supposed to give you some paperwork."

Rukia could see a vein pulsing on Toshirou's forehead. "So you're telling me that she knew about the meeting the whole time, and decided to go and come back and tell me when it finished on purpose?!" he shouted with rage.

"Um…" Rukia didn't know how to answer that.

"Wait, then who _is_ going on this mission?"

"Uh, you and me."

Toshirou thought for a minute. "What the hell…You sure this is a mission and not just you trying to make me help you finish off some paperwork?"

Rukia held in her laughter. "I still can't believe you fell for that when Renji asked you to go a mission with him!" She couldn't hold it in anymore and doubled over with laughter.

After five minutes of listening to Rukia laugh at him, Toshirou got impatient. "Alright, that's enough," he sighed. Rukia looked at him and started laughing harder. Toshirou twitched.

"Seriously, quit it!"

"Ha ha ha…sorry…ha...ha…sorry, Hitsugaya…Taichou…ha…" Rukia gasped. "Okay, I'm done."

"So, what kind of mission is this?" Toshirou asked.

Rukia looked around to make sure no one else was listening, then leaned in close to Toshirou and whispered, "It's a top secret mission."

This caught Toshirou's interest. Now he really wanted to know what this mission was. But Rukia noticed the curiosity on his face and grinned evilly. "But I'm not gonna tell you 'till we get there!"

"What?!" Toshirou exclaimed. "Why?!"

"'Cause it pisses you off," Rukia said happily. Then she started running.

"Oh great…not again!" Toshirou complained, running after her.

**XxX xXx XxX**

Kisuke, with Yoruichi's help, dragged a large contraption into his shop. He kicked it and it came to life. At first, the screen was all blurry, and all that could be heard was static, but after a while, the screen cleared. Yamamoto, the captain of the 1st Division was on the screen.

The old captain cleared his throat and spoke. "You set up the emergency line pretty fast. So what's been happening on you side?"

Kisuke took off his hat (for effect or whatever) and said, "It's not looking too good. We can't even open up the door to Soul Society on this side anymore."

"The door can still be opened on this side," Yamamoto informed.

Yoruichi frowned. "Why can't we just find the ones causing this mess and get rid of them?"

"Not 'them', 'her'," Kisuke corrected. "It's one girl."

Yoruichi's eyes widened. "_One_ girl?!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah," Kisuke answered. "She lives on the outskirts of Karakura town, all by herself."

"She was strong enough to destroy the door on her own?!"

"Apparently. That's not all. The door between the real world and Soul Society isn't the only one that's being destroyed."

"What?!"

Yamamoto cleared his throat to get their attention. Yoruichi and Kisuke turned to look at the screen. "That's what I was going to talk about next."

"As you just said, Kisuke, the doorway that allows passage between Soul Society and the real world is not the only one that's disappearing," Yamamoto said. "It seems that the doors to all alternate dimensions are slowly deteriorating."

Kisuke turned away from the screen and walked to a stack of cardboard boxes. He started searching through the contents of one them, while saying, "And our gate to Soul Society is the first to go."

"When you say alternate dimensions," Yoruichi wondered aloud, "Do you mean…"

"Every dimension that exists," Yamamoto replied. "There are doors to these alternate dimensions all over the real world and Soul Society, and if I'm correct, Kisuke has discovered some of them."

Yoruichi looked at Kisuke, who coughed and continued rummaging through his cardboard boxes. She sighed. "I'm asking again, why can't we just destroy her?"

"Doing that would speed up the process of the deterioration of the doors. But that doesn't matter now," Kisuke answered without looking at her.

"Why not?" Yoruichi asked. She was getting annoyed.

"Because there's no way to destroy her."

"What are you saying…?"

Kisuke ignored her and said, "The door's gonna be completely destroyed in less than two hours. After that, it won't open in Soul Society either. We have to make sure that no one tries to go through it—"

"Taichou!" a voice interrupted. Kisuke and Yoruichi looked at the screen. Soifon ran into the first Division's office and bowed before Yamamoto. "Hitsugaya and Kuchiki-san have entered the door to the real world!"

Soifon stood up and noticed the emergency line. "Yoruichi-sama!" she cried happily.

"Soifon," Yoruichi said with urgency, "why'd they go through the door?!"

"Uohana-san told me that they were sent on a mission," Soifon explained.

"I told all the captains that there would be no missions assigned for the next couple of days," Yamamoto said warily. "And no missions were assigned, so where did those two get there orders from?"

Kisuke grinned. "Looks like we've got more to deal with than just the destruction of the doors."

Yoruichi smacked him. "How can you smile at a time like this?!"

"I was just saying…" he said, rubbing his head where Yoruichi hit him.

"Well, they should be arriving in the real world at any moment now," Soifon stated.

"Kisuke, do you know where they'd end up?" Yoruichi asked.

"I have a pretty good idea where," he answered.

"Then go get them!"

He nodded and walked out of the room before she could smack him again.

Yoruichi sat down on the ground and sighed in frustration. Soifon noticed and asked, "Yoruichi-sama, would you like me to travel to the real world as well?"

Yoruichi laughed. "Don't be stupid! If anything happens, Soul Society's gonna need all their captains."

Soifon smiled sadly. "Ok," she said, before walking out of the room.

"Sometimes her loyalty scares me," Yoruichi muttered as she stretched her arms. Yamamoto didn't say anything.

After about five minutes of silence, loud noises were heard from another room of the shop. Kisuke entered the room that Yoruichi was in, dragging Rukia and Toshirou by their collars. Both of them were wriggling around, making a lot of racket.

"Put me down Urahara!" Rukia yelled. "Damn it, Urahara! After I'm done with you, you'll never see the light again!"

"Let me go! I'm a freakin' captain!" Hitsugaya complained. "You don't treat captains like this!"

Kisuke let go of them both and they fell to the ground. Rukia stood up immediately and kicked Kisuke in the head without warning, smashing him against the wall. Toshirou sat there with a shocked expression on his face.

Yoruichi smirked. "If only someone had done that to ya sooner, Kisuke."

Kisuke groaned and stood up. "That isn't very nice, Kuchiki-san," he said, murderous intent in his voice. "You shouldn't be doing things like that, especially in front of Taichou!"

Rukia stared at the emergency line screen in disbelief. She gave Kisuke a death glare before bowing. "Yamamoto-Taichou, I apologize for—"

"Your stupidity?" Kisuke interrupted, smiling evilly. He walked up to the screen. "Taichou, we'll continue our discussion tomor—Yaaaaa!"

Rukia had tripped him while he walked. He fell flat on his face, but stood back up in an instant. Yoruichi held in her laughter as he reached for his hat, which had fallen off, and placed it back on his head. He walked in front of Rukia and said, "As I was saying, we'll continue this tomorrow."

Rukia looked up at him, wondering what he was planning.

"I suggest you gather all the captains and tell them of the situation," he continued. "And I'll inform Hitsugaya-kun and Kuchiki-san here." He stabbed Rukia in the side with his cane when he said her name.

Toshirou got pissed. "It's Hitsugaya-_Taichou_—" he started, but stopped when he saw Rukia's eyes go wide. She doubled over with pain, falling to the floor with a thud.. _So _that's_ why he went in front of me!_ she thought, annoyed. _So the 1__st__ Division captain wouldn't be able to see him…_ She looked up at Kisuke and saw him smile a rather infuriating smile.

"Good night," he said as the screen flashed off. He then turned around, looking down at Rukia. "You'll never win against me in a game like this," he said arrogantly. Rukia groaned as he walked past her. Then she started giggling. Kisuke stopped and turned around. He, Toshirou and Yoruichi all twitched.

_She's acting weird again!_ Toshirou thought. Rukia snapped her head up toward Toshirou and smiled in a really creepy way. "He he he…" she laughed. Toshirou shuddered.

She slowly sat up, still smiling. "He he…You got hit by a barrel…"

"…Barrel?" Yoruichi asked, confused.

Toshirou edged back a bit as Rukia broke out into a giggle fit.

Kisuke ignored her and walked to the door. Just as he reached for the doorknob, the door slammed open and he was smashed behind the door. Matsumoto ran into the room and grabbed Rukia by the shoulders.

"Matsumoto?!" Toshirou exclaimed in surprise.

"Rukia, please don't tell me you drank the whole thing!" she cried.

Rukia looked at her, dazed. Then she smiled and poked her on the nose, saying, "Honk!" She started laughing.

"Oh, god, it's worse than I thought," Matsumoto said in dismay.

Toshirou said, "Wait, so you know why she's acting like this?"

Matsumoto looked at him. "Well, Taichou, you see…" she trailed off.

"What did you do to her?!" Toshirou shouted.

Matsumoto pointed at Kisuke and cried, "It was HIM! He told us to!"

Toshirou and Yoruichi immediately glared at Kisuke. "H-Hey! Don't look at me!" he stammered nervously, holding his hands up in front of him.

"So, what'd you do, Kisuke?" Yoruichi asked. "It's another one of stupid little experiments gone wrong, isn't it?!"

"I don't care what it is, I just want her to stop!" Toshirou shouted. "She keeps going all freaky on me every once in a while, and I have to stay with her since we're on a mission!"

"The effects should only last for a couple more months…" Kisuke said.

"Months?!" Toshirou and Matsumoto shouted at the same time. Toshirou groaned as Matsumoto kept shaking Rukia, screaming, "Rukia, snap out of it!"

"Geez, what the hell did you give her, drugs?" Yoruichi asked.

"Well, not exactly…" Kisuke muttered.

Toshirou frowned at Matsumoto. She swallowed, then said, "Kisuke sent this little girl to Soul Society the other day…her name was Ururu, I think...

Flashback

_Ururu gave the vial filled with purple, bubbly liquid to Matsumoto and softly said, "Kisuke-san wants you to make Rukia-san drink this."_

_Matsumoto stared at it, saying, "So, she's not supposed to know about it?" She looked up to see that Ururu was already gone. Matsumoto sighed and started walking back to the 10__th__ Division office. _

_"Hey, Matsumoto!" a familiar voice called out. She looked to see Ikkaku and Shuuhei walking towards her. Ikkaku was the one that called her. She brightened up. _

"_Hey, boys, wanna go for a drink?" she asked happily. _

_They agreed and all started walking towards a bar. On the way, they saw Rukia. She was standing all by herself near a tree. Matsumoto called to her. 'Rukia!"_

_Rukia turned around and walked to Matsumoto. "Yes?" she asked._

"_Why don't you come with us for a drink?" Matsumoto asked._

"_What?!" Rukia asked, surprised. "I'm sorry, I can't—"_

"_Sure you can!" Matsumoto said cheerfully._

"_Really, I…"_

"_Aw, leave 'er alone," Shuuhei said. "Let's go."_

"_C'mon, Rukia," whined Matsumoto. "Loosen up a bit!"_

_Rukia paused for a moment, then said, "Ok."_

_At the bar, Ikkaku and Shuuhei immediately started drinking. But Matsumoto held back. When Rukia's sake came, she secretly poured all of the purple liquid into it and handed it to her._

"_Here you go, Rukia. Drink up!" she said, smiling too hard. But Ikkaku and Shuuhei were too drunk to notice._

"_Thank you," Rukia mumbled, before taking a sip._

"So you just gave it to her?!" Yoruichi shouted, interrupting Matsumoto. "You didn't even know what the hell that stuff was!"

Matsumoto looked offended.

Toshirou turned to a giggling Rukia. "And you just drank it?! Even after Matsumoto kept it away from you, then personally handed it to you?!"

Rukia stopped giggling, and growled at Toshirou. He took several steps back, surprised by her reaction. Suddenly, she smiled and ran up to Kisuke and gave him a hug. They both tumbled to the ground. Kisuke pushed Rukia off of himself and sighed.

"This one was definitely a failure," he mumbled to himself.

"Seriously, what the hell was that thing?!" Yoruichi asked, pissed.

"It was a "Character Altering Stimulant", or a CAS," he answered matter-of-factly.

Toshirou, Yoruichi, and Matsumoto stared at him, looks of confusion on their faces.

"Basically, it changes a person's personality: their character, how they behave," he clarified. "For example, Rukia-chan is a person who gets angry very easily, and attacks people, but that potion made her like me and give me a hug..."

"…Which is something she'd never do," Yoruichi finished for him.

"Exactly," Kisuke agreed, putting his arm on Rukia's shoulder.

"You can't be serious," Toshirou muttered angrily.

"Oh, but I am," Kisuke said with that infuriating smile of his.

"Damn, now I see why Kuchiki's always getting pissed at you!" yelled Toshirou.

"Ha ha ha…" Kisuke laughed in a maniacal way.

Suddenly, Rukia jumped up. She blinked a couple of times, then looked at Kisuke's hand, which was still on her shoulder. She pushed it off and looked around for a moment. "What happened?" she asked.

"Well," Matsumoto started, but was interrupted by Kisuke.

"Nothing!" he said a little too quickly for Rukia's liking. She narrowed her eyes at him, then shrugged.

"Ok," she said.

Kisuke sighed, but shuddered from the glares he was getting from Yoruichi, Toshirou, and Matsumoto. "Alright then!" he said. "Why don't we all go home and get some sleep? Meet me back here tomorrow. We have things to discuss."

"Ok!" Matsumoto agreed. She grabbed Toshirou and dragged him out of the shop, despite his protests. Rukia followed.

Yoruichi shook her head and sighed. "So you don't plan on tellin' her about it?"

"Nope," Kisuke answered.

"You know she'll kill you when she finds out."

"Well, she doesn't have to find out!"

"…"

Kisuke walked away when he saw that Yoruichi had nothing to say.

**XxX xXx XxX**

"Sooooo," Matsumoto said, "where are we gonna stay for tonight?"

"We could always stay at Kurosaki's place," Toshirou answered with a yawn, walking ahead.

Matsumoto frowned. "But he kicked us all out last time!"

Rukia stayed quiet. "All except Rukia…" Matsumoto said, giving Rukia a suspicious glance.

"Huh?!" Rukia exclaimed when she heard he name. She hadn't been listening.

Matsumoto grinned. "Maybe you two have a thing going."

Rukia smacked into a pole after hearing that. She turned around and screamed, "What?! No way!"

"Aww, she's turning red!" whispered Matsumoto.

"No I'm not!" Rukia cried, her face turning beet red.

Matsumoto snickered. Toshirou ignored them both. They turned the corner and started to walk towards Ichigo's house.

Toshirou stopped. "Oh yeah, Kuchiki, our mission!" He turned to her.

She thought a moment, then said, "Ah, I'll tell ya later." She ran ahead to Ichigo's house.

"What?! Hey!" Toshirou yelled, running after her.

"Aww, why do we have to run?!" Matsumoto complained, but went after them anyways.

The three of them crawled in through Ichigo's window to find the room empty.

"Ugh, that fool isn't here," Rukia muttered. She walked over to the closet and started pulling items out of her pocket and throwing them in. Toshirou went and sat down on Ichigo's bed.

"So what's the mission?" Toshirou asked.

Rukia turned around and stared at Toshirou. "You want me to tell you now? Shouldn't we all just get to sleep?"

"Now's a good a time as any."

"Fine." She walked over to the window and said, "We're supposed to find a girl with an abnormal reiatsu and destroy her."

"Why?"

"I was told that she's a threat to Soul Society. A lot of strange things have been happening and the higher ups think that it's because of her."

"So they're just assuming?!" Toshirou asked angrily. "What if she's just an innocent girl? We can't just kill her! Why didn't you say anything?!"

"That's what I was trying to tell them!" Rukia shot back. "They said they're almost a hundred percent sure that she's the cause of all the strange happenings."

"Strange happenings?" Toshirou asked. "Like what?"

"Disappearances," Rukia answered. "At first it was just small objects. Like pencils and pens. Nobody really thought anything of it, but then larger things started to disappear, like trees, and houses. And finally, people."

Toshirou's eyes grew wide. "So how come I never heard anything of it?!"

"I don't know," Rukia replied. "I didn't know anything about it either until I was told about this mission."

"Hey Matsumoto, did you know anything about this?" Toshirou asked. There was no reply. "Matsumoto?"

He and Rukia looked around the room, but she wasn't there. "Where the hell did she go?" he asked, annoyed.

"How did she leave without us knowing?" Rukia wondered aloud. They both stopped talking for a minute, then Rukia said, "Dammit!"

Toshirou glanced at her. "What happened?"

"We're way too loud! What if someone hears us?!"

They both stayed quiet for a moment. All they heard was silence.

"Oh, there's no one else here besides us…" Rukia mumbled.

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because if Ichigo's Dad and sisters were here, we would've heard some sort of noise by now," Rukia responded. "Some pretty loud noises…"

"Well, that's a good thing," he said. "So how are we supposed to find this girl?"

"She's somewhere in Karakura town."

Toshirou didn't say anything for a moment. Then, "Seriously, where's Matsumoto?"

Rukia walked to the door. "Let's go find her." They walked out into the hallway and was about to go downstairs when they head a "click". They froze as the front door opened. Footsteps were heard going into the kitchen.

"Crap," Rukia whispered. "Go back to Ichigo's room, I'll see who it is."

"Hey, _I'm_ the captain here. I should be telling you that!" Toshirou argued.

"Well, I know this place better than you, so if I left you here, you'd be at a disadvantage," Rukia said smugly. "But your height might work out for you…they'd never see you!"

Toshirou got mad. "You're short too!'

"Not as short as you!" Rukia said in a singsong voice.

"But that doesn't mean—"

They both shut up when they heard a voice yell out, "Karin! Yuzu! I'm home!"

Rukia brightened up. "It's Ichigo!"

Ichigo didn't hear a reply, so he called out again. "Karin? Yuzu? Dad? Where'd you guys go?"

"C'mon, let's surprise him," Rukia said to Toshirou. She pushed him back into Ichigo's room, and, despite his protests, shoved him into the closet.

"Hey! Why are you putting me in here?!" he shouted as she shut the closet door.

"Shh!" she whispered. "I'll hide under the bed, and when I say "now" we'll both jump out at Ichigo!"

"Ugh," Toshirou muttered. "Can't we be normal and just say "hi"?"

"Hey, it's not that normal to sneak into other people's bedrooms, now is it?"

Toshirou had nothing to say to that.

"I thought so," Rukia said. She slid under Ichigo's bed and waited.

Five minutes passed by, and Ichigo still didn't come into the room. "What's taking him so long?!" Rukia asked impatiently.

Toshirou was complaining to himself in the closet. Every time he turned, he hit something, which caused him curse out loud. He decided to stay as still as possible, but something heavy fell on his head from one of the shelves above him.

"Ah, shit!" he shouted, holding his pounding head.

"Shut it, Taichou!" Rukia hissed as she heard footsteps coming their way. But Ichigo never came into the room. Rukia and Toshirou heard Ichigo open the door to another room.

_He's probably going to the bathroom,_ Rukia thought, irritated.

"AAAAAAAUUUUUGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!"

The scream startled both Rukia and Toshirou. Rukia moved her head up and hit the bottom of the bed. "Ow, crap!" she cursed.

Toshirou smiled when he heard her. "Heh," he whispered from inside the closet, but he cursed too as something else fell on him. They both came out of their hiding places and ran toward the scream.

They saw Ichigo running out of the bathroom and slamming the door closed. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN MY BATHROOM?!" he screamed.

"I'm taking a bath!" a voice replied from inside the bathroom.

"Matsumoto?!" Toshirou exclaimed.

"Matsumoto-Fukutaichou!" Rukia said, running to the bathroom door.

Ichigo shouted, "Why the hell are you taking a bath in _my_ bathroom?! Why the hell are you even in my house?!" Then he heard Rukia and Toshirou. He turned to them and looked like he was going to faint.

"Rukia? Toshirou?" he asked in disbelief.

"It's _Hitsugaya-Taichou_, you idiot," Toshirou said.

Rukia walked up to Ichigo and socked him in the head. He slid all the way across the hall, then slammed into the wall. Toshirou looked scared. _I wonder if that's just how she greets people,_ he thought.

Ichigo sat up and shouted, "Rukia, you friggin idiot, what the hell?!"

"What took you so long?!" she yelled at him. "We were waiting so long!"

"What took _me_ so long?! You're the ones who just came into my house uninvited!"

"Hmph. I'm always invited," Rukia said stubbornly.

Ichigo looked like he was about to explode. Then a click was heard. Rukia and Toshirou turned to the bathroom door, but Ichigo looked at the front door. They both slammed open at the same time.

"I'm done!" Matsumoto said happily as she waltzed out of the bathroom with only a towel on.

"ICHIGO, WE'RE HOME!" Ichigo's dad screamed from downstairs. Ichigo looked at Matsumoto, then at the stairs that lead downstairs.

"Shit!" he cursed, panicking. "Ok, all of you, get in my room! NOW!"

"Aww, but I wanted to get something to eat!" Matsumoto whined. Rukia and Toshirou pulled her into Ichigo's room, then Ichigo slammed the door shut as he heard someone come up the stairs.

Toshirou sighed. "I'm guessing that we can't stay here…" He, Rukia and Matsumoto all sat down on Ichigo's bed.

"Well, _I_ can," Rukia said. "I'm pretty sure Ichigo's family remembers me from the last time I was here."

"Aww man," Toshirou grumbled. "I don't wanna sleep on the roof again…"

Matsumoto gave Toshirou a hug, smothering him with her breasts. "Aw, Taichou, it's ok. We'll just go to Orihime's house!"

"Phyea, phshowe (yeah, sure)," he muttered, still in Matsumoto's embrace. He wriggled himself free and went to the other side of the bed, far away from his vice captain.

From outside the room, they could hear Ichigo and Karin arguing.

"I know I heard someone else up here!" Karin said.

"Well, then, you must be going stupid in the head!" Ichigo shouted. "There was no one else up here besides me!"

"Then why are you standing in front of the door like that?!"

"Like what?"

"Like you don't want me to go to in!"

"I'm not doing that!" Ichigo yelled.

"Yeah you are! You're hiding something, aren't you?!" Karin accused.

"What?! Why would I—HEY! STOP PUSHING ME!"

"Let me see your room!"

"No! Wait, Karin, you don't wanna go in there! It's a complete mess!"

Rukia, Toshirou, and Matsumoto saw the doorknob turn. "Ah!" Rukia cried. "Matsumoto-Fukutaichou, Hitsugaya-Taichou, hide!"

Matsumoto jumped out the window and onto the roof, and Toshirou was about to the same, but Rukia pushed him and he stumbled off the bed and fell behind it. Just at that moment, Karin came into the room. She saw Rukia sitting on the bed, holding a dictionary upside down.

"Rukia Nee-chan?" she asked in disbelief. "What're you doing here?!"

"I'm reading!" Rukia replied with a smile, holding up the dictionary. She noticed that it was upside down, so she flipped it right side up, and started to laugh nervously.

Karin looked up at Ichigo, then ran out of the room. "Dad! Yuzu! Rukia-chan's back!"

Rukia threw the dictionary down and she and Ichigo both sighed. "That was a close one," Rukia said.

"I can't believe Karin actually fell for it," Ichigo muttered. "I mean, you were holding it upside down…and it's a frickin' dictionary!"

Matsumoto came back in through the window, stepping on Toshirou who was still on the floor.

"Ack!' he said, as he was being flattened.

"Oh, Taichou! I didn't see you!" Matsumoto said as she stepped off him. Toshirou dragged himself back up onto the bed, groaning in pain.

"Alright, now all of you, get out," Ichigo said.

"But they have no other place to go," Rukia told him.

"I meant you too."

"What?!" exclaimed Rukia.

"He he, just kidding," Ichigo said, grinning. "But seriously, you guys gotta go."

"Fine," Matsumoto said, sticking her tongue out at Ichigo. "Me and Taichou'll just stay at Orihime's!"

Toshirou groaned.

"But she's not home," Ichigo informed. "She and Tatsuki went on some camping trip thing a couple of days ago. They're not coming back for at least a week."

"Aww," Matsumoto said, disappointed. "I guess we're staying with you then."

"What?!" Ichigo shouted, shocked. "You can't!"

"Not even me?" asked Matsumoto, pouting.

"NO! Especially not you! Where the hell would I hide all of you?!"

"Well," Matsumoto said, thinking, "I'll just take your bed and Taichou can go under it!"

"Hey!" Toshirou protested as she patted his head.

"No way!" Ichigo yelled. "I'm not letting anyone take my bed! ESPECIALLY NOT YOU!"

Matsumoto ignored him and lay down on his bed. Ichigo screamed in anger. He looked at Toshirou and a smile crept across his face. "But that other idea isn't so bad…"

Suddenly, the doorknob turned on Ichigo's door. "Oh crap," he muttered. Matsumoto jumped out the window again, and Toshirou was about to follow, but he was too late.

"Ichigo! WHO'S THAT TRYING TO ESCAPE THROUGH YOUR WINDOW?!" Ichigo's dad, Isshin, and Yuzu yelled in shock, pointing at Toshirou.

"Um, well…" Ichigo said nervously.

"And why didn't you tell me Rukia-chan was back?" his dad asked as he gave Rukia a hug. "Welcome back, my third daughter!"

Rukia couldn't answer because she was being suffocated by him. Yuzu giggled.

"I have to go to the bathroom," Isshin said. "You better have an explanation for HIM!"

Toshirou jumped when Isshin said that. He tripped over the edge of the bed and fell on the ground at Isshin's feet. Isshin laughed and walked out of the room to the bathroom. Yuzu left also to check on dinner.

Rukia walked up to Toshirou and said, "Alright, Hitsugaya-Taichou, here's what you do…"

When Isshin walked back into the room he saw Toshirou sitting down in the middle of Ichigo's bedroom floor with his hands on his face. Rukia and Ichigo were looking at him, concerned, with their hands on his shoulders.

Toshirou sniffled a little as Isshin walked up to them. "What happened here?" he asked.

Ichigo said, "Well, dad, he's got nowhere to stay 'cause…"

"His mom just died," Rukia finished. "He lived with his mom, but their house burned down and now he has nothing left…"

At that moment, Yuzu walked into the room with tears streaming down her face. "Daddy, we have to let him stay!"

Isshin was also crying. "Of course we will, Yuzu!" he cried, hugging her. "Now I have another son!"

He and Yuzu walked out of the room, wiping their faces. Ichigo and Rukia snickered as Toshirou tried to kill himself.

"I will NEVER do that ever again," he muttered, embarrassed. "I can't believe you guys talked me into doing it…"

Ichigo glanced at Rukia and they burst into laughter. "Shut up," Toshirou mumbled, looking the other way.

They all heard footsteps coming towards Ichigo's room. "Damn," Ichigo cursed. "Why are they coming here again?"

"Hey," Matsumoto said from the window, "since Taichou can stay in your house, I can too, right?"

"Ahh, no, get out!" Ichigo yelled.

"How rude!" she said, jumping in through the window onto Ichigo's bed.

"No, Matsumoto! Someone's coming!" Toshirou hissed.

As the doorknob turned, Ichigo, Rukia, and Toshirou all jumped at Matsumoto in an attempt to push her back out the window, but they all ended up in a pile at the foot of Ichigo's bed. Isshin walked in, saying, "Ichigo, dinner's read—"

"Oh, crap," Rukia muttered under her breath.

"Dammit, Matsumoto!" Toshirou whispered angrily.

Ichigo just glared at her.

"Ichigo, who's this?" Isshin asked, pointing at Matsumoto.

She stood up, cleared her throat and started saying, "I'm Matsum—" but Rukia reached up and covered her mouth.

"This?" Ichigo asked, pointing at Matsumoto. "I have no frickin' idea! I don't even know why the hell she's in my room! She just came in through the window!"

Then he pushed her out the window. "And now she's back outside the window!"

Rukia and Toshirou stared at the window in shock with their jaws hanging open. Isshin ran at Ichigo and kicked him in the face. "That's the son I know and love!" he said gleefully while holding Ichigo in a headlock. "Kicking strangers out the window when they come into your bedroom unexpectedly!"

Ichigo elbowed him in the side, causing Isshin to let go of his head, then he punched Isshin in the face, who slid out Ichigo's door and down the hall.

"Is that how you treat your only son?!" Ichigo screamed.

"No! Now I have TWO sons!" Isshin answered from down the hall.

Ichigo groaned. He turned around and saw Rukia and Toshirou peering out the window. He walked over to them.

"She's gone…" Rukia muttered. She looked at Ichigo and Toshirou. Toshirou shrugged but Ichigo twitched and they both glared at him.

_Damn, this is really gonna suck,_ Ichigo thought miserably as they continued glaring at him.

* * *

**a/n:** Did you guys like it? Review and tell me what you think!


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